WP Builds Newsletter #45 - WordPress 5.0.3, we're no longer bloggers and free GitHub

This weeks WordPress news - Covering The Week Commencing 7th January 2019:

WordPress 5.0.3 Maintenance Release
"WordPress 5.0.3 is now available! 5.0.3 is a maintenance release that includes 37 bug fixes and 7 performance updates. The focus of this release was fine-tuning the new block editor, and fixing any major bugs or regressions..."

WordPress 5.1 Beta 1
"WordPress 5.1 Beta 1 is now available! WordPress 5.1 is slated for release on February 21, and we need your help to get there. Here are some of the big items to test so we can find as many bugs as possible in the coming weeks..."

WordPress 5.1 to Replace “Blogging” References with “Publishing”
"WordPress 5.1 will replace the “Happy blogging” language in wp-config-sample.php with “Happy Publishing.” The next major release also cleans up a few other “blog” references by replacing them with the word “site.” A lot of tutorials and documentation will need to be updated. WordPress contributors are continuing to fine-tune the wording in various files to reflect its expanded capabilities as a publishing platform..."

What’s New in Gutenberg?
"Gutenberg 4.8 is the first plugin release after WordPress 5.0 that is not going to be backported entirely to the WordPress 5.0.x releases. The bug fixes and performance improvements have been cherry-picked into the upcoming WordPress 5.0.3 release. The Changelog is a bit long as it includes a lot of PRs that were merged but not included in previous versions due to the more critical work needed for the WordPress 5.0.x releases..."

Short Term Trac Milestone Ticket Triage Proposal
"Due to a handful of different factors, the number of tickets in unreleased milestones on Trac has become unmanageable. One of the main reasons is the following scenario. Person milestones ticket for the next release with good intentions. Ticket is not quite ready or release scope/priorities are changed, so it gets punted. New ticket is added to next milestone. Repeat..."

WordPress Governance Project Flagged as Unsanctioned, First Meeting Set for January 15
"The WordPress Governance Project is a new community initiative, led by Rachel Cherry and Morten Rand-Hendriksen, that will host its first meeting Tuesday, January 15 2019..."

GitHub Announces Free, Unlimited Private Repositories
"GitHub users no longer have to pay to keep code private. The company is now offering unlimited private repositories to Free account users, with up to three collaborators. Developers have different reasons for wanting to keep their code private – it may not be ready, they may be working on a side project, or may just be starting out in their coding journey. GitHub now makes it possible for users with free accounts to do that work in private, without having to upgrade to a Pro account for $7/month..."

Brizy Pro Preview Build 0.0.16: Meta Box Support
"Starting today you can create and display dynamic custom fields created with the popular Meta Box plugin. Meta Box completes the list of custom field plugins compatible with Brizy. ACF, Toolset and Pods are already integrated and we continue to improve on them..."

Elementor Acquires Layers WP
"Today, I’m excited to announce that Elementor has acquired Layers WP, a popular WordPress theme company. For those of you who are not aware, Layers is a WordPress theme brand, launched in 2014 by WordPress veterans, David and Marc Perel..."

Introducing Local by Flywheel's Local Dev Fund
"We're investing up to $1,000,000 in development grants to help the WordPress Community build the best local development workflow in the world.."

Jetpack 6.9 Introduces New Blocks for Subscriptions, Related Posts, and Tiled Galleries
"Jetpack 6.9 was released today with three new blocks for the editor. Subscriptions, Related Posts, and Tiled Galleries are now available as blocks under Jetpack in the block inserter tool..."

Monitor WordPress Security Activity with the iThemes Security Dashboard
"The iThemes Security Pro plugin just added another way for you to monitor and manage the security of your WordPress website: a real-time, dynamic Security Dashboard with all your website’s security activity stats in one place … all from inside your WordPress admin dashboard..."

WordPress, JavaScript and PHP Conferences to Add to Your Calendar in 2019
"With so many conferences out there, which one(s) should you attend? We’ve compiled the following list of conferences any WordPress developer might enjoy to help with your travel & conference plans for 2019..."

Non WordPress, but useful anyway…

Google Launches Opensource.dev as an Introduction to Open Source
"Google has launched a new educational site at opensource.dev that offers a succinct and approachable introduction to open source software and licensing. WordPress is cited as one of the more well-known examples in the opening paragraphs..."